End
by neuroi
Summary: The 501st Joint Fighter Wing experiences a new crisis. [Major character death warning.]


The girl tumbled through the sky like a rock. She had looked as light as a feather on her Strikers, but now she was falling. Lynette froze, watching her best friend plummet. She couldn't move. She had to help Yoshika, but she couldn't. She was stopped dead in her tracks. She tried to call out, but her lips were shut by the terror. Lieutenant Yeager dove after Yoshika. The speed behind her let her catch Yoshika, but there was no point. Upon grabbing the falling soldier, Charlotte felt something wet and sticky against her. Blood. Yoshika had been impaled by the Neuroi's beam. She was bleeding out. The girl had fainted from blood loss already. Shirley darted back toward the base. The higher-ups had demanded that the Neuroi be intercepted far from the base. Nobody had expected that a member of the elite 501st JFW would suffer an urgent affliction. As the Neuroi disappeared behind the redheaded Witch, bursting into shining white shards, the Lieutenant felt Yoshika's breath become shallower and shallower.

Shirley deployed the emergency release on her Strikers as she neared the ground, letting them tumble to the floor as she ran, barefoot, into the base. She passed by Eila and Minna as she made a break for the infirmary. She didn't bother to look at their faces. She swung the door open, laying Yoshika down on the bed as she went to fetch the doctor. The doctor sent her out. She had to prepare the patient for immediate surgery.

Minna met Charlotte outside the infirmary. They both knew there was no hope for Yoshika. Minna had been radioed, notified of what had happened. Eila looked on from a corridor, barely able to hear them as they softly discussed Yoshika's physical state. The Suomish girl gave up and headed to the door to meet the others when they arrived back. Unlike Minna, Eila hadn't heard a word of the occurrence. All she knew was that Yoshika's uniform had been stained red. Curious as she was, she knew she would find out later. There were others who were closer with Yoshika, and they would need reassurance.

Lucchini was the first to come back into the base.

"Where's Shirley?" she whined, "She promised we would catch buggies today…"

"Yeager has more important duties to attend to." Barkhorn scolded, leading the group from behind Francesca. "Don't you know what's happened?"

"You mean with Yoshika? She'll be okay! Yoshika is tough, right?"

"Maybe you're right, Franny." Erica smiled at her, "Do you want to play with me?"

"Okay! But don't call me Franny! That sounds like fanny…"

Gertrud seemed stunned that Erica would actually do something helpful. Normally all Erica did was sleep and make messes, but maybe there was a helpful side to her that her superior officer didn't know about. As Lucchini and Hartmann left, they passed by Perrine and a wide-eyed Lynette. The Brittanian Witch stared at the ground as if she had just seen a ghost, and nobody could blame her. Perrine kept looking over to Lynne, expecting her to be back to normal every time, but she never was, and when Perrine tried to engage her, she wouldn't respond.

"What happened with Yoshika?" Eila approached Perrine. "Is Lynette okay?"

"Can't your silly tarot cards tell you what happened?" Perrine barked.

"Those tell the future. They didn't say anything about this."

"Well, if you must know," Perrine adjusted her glasses. "Yoshika was hit by a Neuroi's beams today. Lynette happened to witness the entire thing."

"Oh, Lynette..." Eila tried to give her a comforting smile. "Yoshika will be all right. We'll ask the tarot cards."

"N-no... She won't..." Lynette whispered to herself. "You don't need to do that..."

Eila frowned. Tears were growing in Lynette's blue eyes, and Eila could have sworn that she saw her tremble. Lynette stumbled past her, shambling away toward her room. Gertrud had headed for the infirmary, and Eila and Perrine were left alone together. They avoided each others' gazes for a time, until Perrine spoke.

"Aren't you going to tell Sanya what happened?" Perrine spoke in a mocking tone. Aren't you going to tell _Sanya_?

"I would rather let her sleep." Eila answered. "If I tell her now, she might have nightmares..."

Perrine shrugged, heading down the hall toward her room. Eila sneered at her as the left, baring her teeth. Perrine didn't seemed concerned in the least with Yoshika's state of being. Ever since Sakamoto had retired, she had lost all the progress she had made at becoming friendlier. It seemed as if Perrine's positive interactions with others had all been a show for the Major.

Outside the infirmary, Barkhorn and Yeager waited. Neither one said a word to the other. They sat in the hall and waited. They each wondered if the other blamed them. Did Yeager blame Barkhorn for not turning away from the fighting to help? Did Barkhorn blame Yeager for not having the speed to bring her back in time? In truth, Barkhorn and Yeager felt kindred to one another. They were facing this struggle together. Normally they were rivals, but today they suffered together for Yoshika. They looked up as they heard footsteps in the hall. Eila was coming. She looked at the sorry faces of her higher-ups. Barkhorn often looked this way; sad-eyed, as if she were a little girl who had lost her pet. But Eila had never seen Yeager this way.

"When can we see Yoshika?" Eila asked.

"Get in line." Gertrud answered. "We'll see Yoshika when the doctor is ready."

Eila nodded curtly, turning around to head back to her room, where Sanya was asleep. The Suomish Witch was always a pushover when it came to Sanya, and today she had let the younger girl sleep in her bed. Eila thought she would have to take care not to awaken Sanya when she arrived at her room, but the silver-haired girl was already awake.

"I hear crying, Eila." Sanya said. "What happened?"

"Yoshika is hurt." Eila answered. "She might... She might not be okay."

"Oh." Sanya said. It was all she could think of to say.

"Lets go back to sleep. Everything will be be better when we wake up."


End file.
